Lily’s $25 Easter Basket

April 21, 2014

It is unbelievably easy to spend a ridiculous amount on Easter, making it seem more like Christmas than the simple Easter bunny. We are a no candy family at this point because Lily is only 18 months so she does not need the sugar. I also grew up with only one piece of white chocolate (my favorite), a pack of peeps and a little bag of robin’s eggs. I did get many small presents and, truthfully, I didn’t miss the candy! I plan to do the same with our kids.

This is where the spending gets hard. It is so easy to over-compensate for not hitting the traditional Easter basket candy haul that I feel like Lily needs a million things in her basket. To battle this, we set a $25 limit for Easter. This is probably a high limit for a small holiday and will go down as she gets older, but it is hard to keep “baby” things cheap and still fill her basket.

And, like always, I went overboard. I didn’t overspend – in fact I was UNDER the $25 limit, but Lily got a huge haul. Thanks to coupons and shopping ahead, here is what our kid scored:

Here is the breakdown:

The Princess tent – $4.75 (Originally $20 marked down to $5 and then 5% off at Target) bought in mid-January

3 coloring books – $2.25 ($0.85 each with a 10% off Cartwheel and an additional 5% off using my redcard at Target)

Fairy Wings – $0.85 (10% off Cartwheel and an additional 5% off using my Redcard at Target)

Crayons – $0.99

4 pairs of Disney Jr. Socks – $3.40 ($0.85 each with 10% off Cartwheel and an additonal 5% off using my Redcard at Target)

Disney Princess sidewalk chalk – %0.50 at Walgreens at the end of summer last year

Sophia Hairbrush – $1.00 Toys R Us

Frozen Anna and Elsa plate – $3.50 Target

Gerber Forks – $2.99 Target

Sophia camera – $3.00 Target

TOTAL – $23.23

As you can see, I spend the majority of my shopping time at Target and I score some incredible deals there! The key for me is to shop early… like as in a year early! They had some seriously cute Easter baskets at Target and it was really hard to not splurge to get Lily one. I use my old Bunny basket (never realized how creepy the bunny looks!) but I would like her to have her own. Looks like I’ll hit that up later this week when they are all on super markdown! I will also look for some small Easter things for next year’s basket – a stuffed animal with bunny ears, small Disney Princess toys, things like that. They go 70-90% off at Target and I will just put them in a bin in our basement until next year! Saves a TON of money to shop ahead! Also a great idea for stocking stuffers if the items aren’t holiday specific.

I did put three pair of PJs and a flamingo dress in the basket also, but I didn’t really buy those as presents, she needed the pj’s and I needed her to have the dress because it is beyond amazingly cute. So I didn’t count those into my totals as I was buying them regardless, I only put them in to fill her second basket.

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